National Assembly has announced the postponement of resumption for plenary sessions by two weeks.
Acting Clerk to the National Assembly, Arc. Olatunde Ojo, in a statement in Abuja, said lawmakers would now resume on Tuesday 29th September, 2020.
It will be recalled that the Senate and the House of Representatives had on Thursday July 23 adjourned plenary sessions to Tuesday, September 15, to enable lawmakers observe their annual vacation.
Ojo however did not give any reason for rescheduling the resumption date in his statement.
The statement reads,
This is to inform all Distinguished Senators and Honourable members of the National Assembly that the resumption of plenary session earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 15th September, 2020 is hereby rescheduled for Tuesday 29th September, 2020.
We regret any inconvenience caused by this change of date.
The development comes few days after a coalition of 39 civil society organisations (CSOs) kicked against the lawmakers’ decision to go on a break.
CSOs stated;
The legislative year is June 2019 to July 2020; two months vacation, 56 days public holiday, 6-week Yuletide vacation – 42 days, 7-week coronavirus break – 49 days, in addition to 62 days for Saturdays and Sunday. This means 216 days out of 365 days in a year.
Therefore, the national assembly sat for only 149 days instead of the 181 days prescribed by the constitution.
It added;
Many had thought that owing to the intermittent closure of the parliament in the wake of the pandemic and given the critical issues requiring legislative attention, that the lawmakers could have devised means of extending its plenary sittings and meeting the constitutionally-mandated 181 sitting days in a legislative year given the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group said the decision of the house of representatives to suspend all its activities will fuel conspiracy theories “of collusion and attempt to cover up fraud.”
It stressed that before the lawmakers embarked on their vacation, they were conducting important probes which Nigerians are interested in.
However, regardless of the outcry, National Assembly has confirmed the postponement of resumption date.
